Research In Motion Expands BlackBerry 7 Portfolio with the New BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 Smartphones

Jakarta, Indonesia and Waterloo, ON - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced two new smartphones based on the BlackBerry® 7 operating system (OS) – the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9790 and BlackBerry® Curve™ 9380.

Both smartphones offer enhanced communications, multimedia, productivity and social connectivity features together with slim and stylish designs. The BlackBerry Bold 9790 features an iconic design that seamlessly integrates a highly tactile keyboard, optical trackpad and high resolution touch display. The BlackBerry Curve 9380 is the first-ever BlackBerry® Curve™ smartphone with an all-touch display.

"We are very excited to expand the BlackBerry 7 portfolio with the new BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380,” said Carlo Chiarello, Senior Vice President, Handheld Product Management at Research In Motion. “BlackBerry smartphones offer a uniquely refined mobile communications experience that people love and we think many customers will be thrilled by the faster performance, beautiful touch displays and sleek designs available with these new BlackBerry 7 based models.”

BlackBerry Bold 9790 Smartphone with Touch Display and Keyboard

Built with premium materials and finishes, the BlackBerry Bold 9790 smartphone combines a highly tactile keyboard with a high-resolution and highly responsive touch display and a precise optical trackpad, all in a narrow design that is easy to carry and very comfortable to hold. With the BlackBerry 7 OS and a powerful 1GHz processor, the BlackBerry Bold 9790 delivers fast, smooth performance for web browsing, working with documents, and enjoying multimedia. It includes 8GB of onboard memory and an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB of additional storage.
All-Touch BlackBerry Curve 9380 Smartphone

The finely crafted BlackBerry Curve 9380 is the first all-touch smartphone in the BlackBerry Curve family. It features a highly responsive and brilliant 3.2” high resolution display and comes with preinstalled social networking apps, including BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger), Facebook®, Twitter™ and Social Feeds apps, that offer a smoothly integrated mobile experience. It also has a 5MP camera with flash and video recording allowing users to easily capture and share their favorite moments with their family, friends and colleagues.

Powerful BlackBerry 7 OS

The BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 are both powered by the new BlackBerry 7 OS, which delivers a faster and richer user experience with improved browsing, voice-activated searches, and support for Augmented Reality and NFC (Near Field Communications). It also includes the ability to manage personal content separately from corporate content, and comes with a variety of personal and productivity apps out of the box.

BlackBerry 7 also introduces an enhanced browser that provides a significantly faster, more fluid web browsing experience. The browser includes a new JIT (just in time) JavaScript compiler to improve the load time speed of web pages and it offers optimized HTML5 performance for incredible gaming and video experiences. The popular universal search capability has also been enhanced with support for voice-activated search, so users can simply speak to begin searching their device and the web for information.

The BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphones include built-in support for Augmented Reality and NFC, allowing users to connect with the world around them in fresh new ways. With the Wikitude Augmented Reality application, users can find nearby BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) contacts in real-time, read reviews on restaurants close to them, or get the story behind an interesting landmark and points of interest. NFC also enables many new and exciting capabilities, including the ability to make mobile payments, pair accessories or read SmartPoster tags with a simple tap of the smartphone.

BlackBerry 7 includes a number of preinstalled applications and integrated functionality for increasing productivity and easy sharing and collaboration right out of the box. The Premium version of Documents To Go is included free of charge, offering users powerful document editing features as well as a native PDF document viewer. BlackBerry® Protect is pre-loaded*, offering customers the peace of mind that personal data can be backed up and secured in the cloud. BlackBerry® Balance is integrated in BlackBerry 7, allowing users to enjoy the full BlackBerry smartphone experience for both work and personal purposes without compromising the IT department’s need for advanced security and IT controls. The Social Feeds (2.0) app has been extended to capture updates from media and favorites all in one consolidated view. The Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones (2.0) app introduces features like Facebook chat and BBM integration that makes it easier for users to connect with their Facebook friends in real time.

Availability

The BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphones will begin to be available from various carriers around the world over the coming weeks. Availability dates for specific devices from specific carriers will be announced in conjunction with RIM’s partners.

Additional Information

* BlackBerry Protect will be pre-loaded where available. Check with your local operator for availability.

About Research In Motion

Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.

Forward-looking statements in this news release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used herein, words such as "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "should", "intend," "believe", and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by RIM in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that RIM believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause RIM's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including those described in the "Risk Factors" section of RIM's Annual Information Form, which is included in its Annual Report on Form 40-F (copies of which filings may be obtained at www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov). These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on RIM's forward-looking statements. RIM has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. RIM, Research In Motion and BlackBerry are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be pending or registered in other countries. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. RIM assumes no obligations or liability and makes no representation, warranty, endorsement or guarantee in relation to any aspect of any third party products or services.

actually its very needed. its the all touch phone for the person on a budget. htc android does the same thing... its just overlooked. i would say it targets the person on a budget who may have never used an all touch phone before. me personally i would perfer the 9380 over the 9850/60.

Right - because you can tell the difference between a 1 GHz and a 1.5 GHz processor. This old technology you speak of isnt like traveling by rickshaw much to your discredit on embellishing the spec's (or lack thereof).

You can use a BlackBerry in Canada for $100/year prepaid voice, and $35/month unlimited SMS/Social networks/BBM

The difference between a curve phone is about $300-$350 and a Torch phone is about $550-$650, The investment of $300 extra dollars is hardly worth it to those in that position, thus they go with a lower cost Android phone, and pay an additional $10 month on a different data plan

My wife really wants this phone in a major way. Her main concern when buying a new phone is size. This is smaller full screen phone that will fit in her pocket better than an i-phine. She wants that Wikitude App too in the worst way and also BBM. For her, this phone is perfect. And.. It looks a lot nicer than her current P.O.S. square, black plastic brick, battery sucking Droid Phone.

But yeah, unless all their devices support and run everything the same, PLEASE CUT on the freaking number of devices. Concentrate on quality software and ecosystem (dev support!), stupid.

They want to be everything to everyone, aim at multiple targets at the same time. By doing so, they spread themselves thin, lose quality, lose focus, self-inflict fragmentation and thus, miss all targets. One company targetting all segments, that's an herculean task. Google has an army of manufacturers to help accomplish that. Only Nokia managed to pull that off, for some time. And they were 10x bigger than RIM.

800Mhz processor, 3.2 inch screen (480x360), 5mp camera with flash, 8gb internal memory (maybe), and the back is EXACTLY The same as the Curve 9350/60 so if you had a case that only went around the edge it would fit on all 4 curve devices (9350/60/70/80).

..And where, in your theory, do you contemplate placing the current models: Bold 9780, Curve 9300, Curve 8520???
Remember that these are not discontinued and RIM has given no indication of discontinuing them either.. (RIM launched the Curve 9300 a year and a half ago and still no sign of discontinuing 8520..)

And also these are too many OS7 smartphones to "fill the gap" for the upcoming BBX smartphone(s). Everyone who buys these devices on contracts might not be able to buy a BBX device in a few months especially in Canada where contracts are 3 years and upgrade length maybe 2 years into your contract. I don't think RIM made a smart move here.

India and Indonesia are more price sensitive that we are in North America,

AND there is a demand NOW, Both these phones address those market growth areas RIM NEEDS to keep catering to them whilst attempting to regain North American Mind share.

and for many These phones will be great for their 2-3 year use, as some people still use and are HAPPY with Curve 8330's on OS4.X Heck I know users who are still happy with 8830's and older yet, not everyone wants the latest and greatest, nor needs to wait,

RIM has always done this well, and Android is certainly fighting RIM on this front.

as a Parent I'd sooner give a $300 all touch screen phone than a $600 to my Teenager who is likely to break it

1Ghz processor would be just fine for this smaller size screen. It should be more than compatible with the 9900 performance.
With a battery being the same as the one for 9900, no concerns about the battery life.
And 103g weight? That's really an ultra light.
9790 is truly a pocketable communication device. I am sold!

Actually the "CDMA" BlackBerrys released for Verizon:
-Tour 9630
-Bold 9650
-Torch 9850
-Storm 9550
(And on and on)
ARE GSM capable as they are World Phones. I've traveled internationally with a few different models and used other GSM SIMS and they worked perfectly. You can have them unlocked via carrier.

Was tempted by the Curve Touch when it first showed up here on CB. I think it was on Verizon's roadmap or something.... anyway, I am in no way a power user so the curve series would work for me. That being said, I'm likely gonna jump to another OS for the next while. Canadian 3yr contracts mean that if/when I come back to BB, BBX should be nice and stable with all the bugs worked out.... or there will simply be no BB to come back to at all. (RIM has really taken a nosedive over the last 12 months. If this trend continues, 3 years down the road they may simply no longer exist. I hope this never happens but it is a possibility)

Of the current devices available (no nessisarily on my carrier, but the ones BB has outed) I'm most interested in the 9810 or maybe the 9790. However like I said, I'm not a power user. If my choices were restricted to BB only I'd have a good look at all the models before making a final choice.

The production of lowend phones is a good way of taking care of RIM customers in countries where carriers dont offer contracts, and you have to buy your phone.RIM sales volume may be low in US,but in UK and Africa,if you dont have a BlackBerry phone, you dont have a phone ! I have friends that have as many 3 lines from different carriers in thier outright purchased BlackBerry in Nigeria.I hope introducing these phones at the time will not prolong debut of BBX phone though...

I am getting so confused with all of these 9000+ series phones coming out. If I didn't know anything about blackberry I wouldn't know which one to purchase. It would have been better if BB trained phone carrier employees to know the difference. From reading on this blog and having experience myself, employees persuade you from purchasing any blackberry phone. I see right now RIM is trying to compete with the Android (OS system not manufacturer) market instead of focus on fewer and greater products.

Yet Apple has been the ONLY company to ever be successful with this Business model,

And Apple is a very unique company.

I GREATLY appreciate the variation RIM offers, as I Love my qwerty, yet some people want a full touchscreen, I have my 9900, for everyday fun/usage, I have my 9300 as a back up alterate network device so I have access in areas of low primary network coverage, and a 9670 for use on the boat, or places of high risk of damage and needing CDMA signal

Will ALL of them I can use BBM, and group calendars, and have my emails pushed, Only thing that changes is the phone number, and really I make 90% out going calls, as emails are what come into me

And they wonder why the stock prices are falling? I mean come on, so many different models out create difficulty for support and raises manufacturing/shipping costs. The end user basically has to pay for a device plus the next version in the line up. Instead of an improved model we get an additional model? A few models to satisfy form factor issues and that would be it for me. Somehow RIM seems to be heading the way of General Motors. They once had so much redundancy that the only difference was the emblem on the hood. Please RIM, stay focused? Do it for us users that want function AND a lil fashion.

Hopefully their BBX line of phones will have better cameras like the HTC Amaze. Also, their new BBX phone will need to have a quad-core processor or better since Androids are coming out with Quad Core processors in January already.

While most device makers seem to be focused on trying to out do each other on high end phones, these appear to be of little interest in the non-North American markets. Clearly economics is playing a part in this scenario and RIM seems to want to address this low price-point market.

What I find interesting is RIM seems to be giving the prospective customer a significant choice when it comes to hardware and to some degree, software. It will be interesting to see which model is more successful, Apple's monolithic one device fits all or RIM's multi-device approach.

The big question for me is: My upgrade is April. Do I get one of these in April or wait for a BBX phone?
BB phones sell when the stores promote them. Unfortunately, you walk into many places around here and you can't find anyone who promotes BB's.

While the 9790 looked like a mess, the 9380 looked really nice. Maybe it looked a lot like the Storm series which I loved so much. Well this will kept the nation of CB busy for a while until the BBX lands

Woah!!! Wait a second. When they launched the Torch 9650/9860 along side the Torch 9810, people were asking RIM why they named the non-slider Torch the same name is their slider Torch and they said it was because the full screen touch design was what they were calling their "Torch" line. That any device with a full screen touch interface would be riding the "Torch" name. It was a little confusing but made some sense. Now they are making a full screen touch interface Curve??? Is RIM not talking to one another?!?!? How can that change in less than 4 months?

You guys, stop whining without having any idea of what people want. Different phones for different budgets! I know you all want RIM to release the iphone killer every 6 months, you might as well be becoming spoiled users like apple fanboys. It's just a phone, for Christ's sake.

I know were in the u.s, but in my country the new curve touch should
be sold out the first day. BBM is everything over there.
people forget how many budget androids are out there.
huaweii and LG make many budget androids and then you have tons
of mid range and some really high end.

Correct me if im wrong but wasn't this version of the bold set to be released into foreign countries such as Indonesia and the whole pacific islander region? This also includes the curve touch... and wouldn't it make more sense to just send the Bold 9900 and the Torch series over their rather than fragmenting the brand even further.... Or were these aimed at a lower end market....

AUTOFOCUS, smaller form factor, probably better battery life, and... less importantly.... cheaper. I like.
(I'm talking about the one with a keyboard..... don't understand why RIM even tries to compete with slab phones)

I think the announcement of these two phones is just plain dumb. To be honest, the Bold 9700 was a rather crappy phone, and this 9790, is the phone that should have been released some time ago. But why you need this low end tier I think is ridiculous. If you can't afford a high end smartphone, you probably shouldn't have a smartphone. The data plans are expensive whether you get an awesome Bold 9900 or one of these lower quality versions. RIM needs to be innovating and putting out QNX instead of trying to get this mass appeal through cheap phones. Bold 9900/30, the new Storm, the new Torch, you got yourself an awesome harvest. The Curve line... Kinda unnecessary if you ask me. Focus! Do what you do best.

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